From The Food Encyclopedia by Jacques Rolland and Carol Sherman
An ancient nutritious grain, a staple of the Incas, who called it quinoa, meaning "the mother grain." Quinoa must be rinsed before cooking, because its outer hull contains saponin, a bitter resin that would otherwise impart a disagreeable taste. Quinoa is the Spanish derivation of kinua or kinoa, from Quechua, the family of languages spoken by the indigenous people of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina.
